As a pastor, more and more I receive invitations to host conferences at my church.  Not actual ‘real’ people, mind you, but conferences via satellite onto a screen.  It must be effective, as it seems to be a new trend.  You can reach a broader audience without having to use one huge space.  It also only takes one team to deliver the message. And, your audience doesn’t have to travel half way across the country.  Seems great and I applaud their creativity… But…

I have a problem with satellite churches.  Again the ingenuity of this idea is effective in the same ways the satellite conferences are effective.  If fact this may even be the next evolution of denominations and churches in our country.  Satellite Point Community Denomination, Screen Fellowship Churches, or Satellite Creek Family.  But, just because something is effective, does that make it right?

I have two issues with this: One, the mass production of one great speaker among many local church bodies limits the opportunities of leaders in the Body of Christ to use their teaching/preaching gifts.  There’s something very awkward about not having someone live and in person preaching the word.  Now I know that these churches do have from time to time someone live in the pulpit, but that brings me to the next point.  Two, I believe the best preachers are the ones that know and live with the people they’re preaching to.  There’s already a gaping hole between many clergy and laity without this.

You can’t ignore the fact, though, that people are coming in large numbers to these churches.  But are effective and right one and the same?  What happened to church planting?

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